THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) are partnering to help people in areas that were hardest hit by the Magnitude-7 tremor in Northern Luzon last July 27, 2022.
Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said a joint memorandum circular (JMC) for the training-cum-production and emergency employment program will be released by DOLE and TESDA.
The project will be implemented in coordination with other agencies of the national government and local local government units (LGUs), he added.
“It will assist severely affected areas in Northern Luzon, specifically CAR and Region I to rehabilitate the infrastructure, shelter, and cultural heritage of devastated communities, and implement emergency employment programs in affected communities to jumpstart their lives towards eventual normalcy,” Laguesma said.
He said the project will create a pool of construction workers that will be tapped by LGUs in the care and rehabilitation of damaged facilities and installations.
Laguesma pointed out that not less than 40 batches of 25 trainees each from the poorest and most affected municipalities in Abra, Ilocos Sur, and Benquet will run the pilot implementation of the project.
“This will develop their skills and competencies on the areas of carpentry, masonry, electrical wiring and plumbing,” dagdag pa ni Laguesma.
Based on the JMC, TESDA will provide skills training through its training centers and its registered mobile programs, provide training based on identified qualifications, design short-term programs for critical skills in qualified areas.
The TESDA will likewise subsidize the first phase of the skills training program, and will directly coordinate with the LGUs on projects that may be implemented using training-cum-production and will mobilize partners who can help in the program.
On the other hand, DOLE will help identify program beneficiaries through the Tulong Panghanapbuhay para sa Displaced/Disadvantaged workers (TUPAD) by giving emergency employment for graduates of skills training, especially on projects that will be identified by LGUs.
DOLE will also provide assistance to families of beneficiaries and implement livelihood projects to fast-track job generation for evacuees and the unemployed in the areas covered by the project and to mobilize the construction sector to help in the program.
DOLE regional offices in CAR and Ilocos have already started to identify and profile possible beneficiaries of the special training program.